Date: 4 July 2000
From: BJ Worth, IPC President
To: IPC Delegates
Re.: IPC Mission Plan

Dear IPC Delegates,

The IPC has reached an important crossroads in the development of its sporting events. We have established numerous well-refined sporting disciplines in which highly trained athletes achieve spectacular performances. If we intended to conduct skydiving events for the sole purpose of determining champions and setting records within the skydiving community, we would have little development work left to do.

However, the IPC - and the athletes it represents - have voiced a strong desire to progress beyond this status quo. The international skydiving community wants sport parachuting to develop into events which are attractive to the athletes, to the public, to the media and to sponsors. It is clearly time for the IPC to take the proactive steps which are necessary to achieve this goal.

The IPC's Committees, Working Groups, and representatives have already been moving in this direction - but independently, for the most part. At our most recent Plenary meeting in Canberra, I pledged to align, enhance, and focus these efforts into a comprehensive and effective plan of action. I have now prepared the framework for an IPC Mission Plan, which I propose we use as the vehicle to achieve this goal and build a stronger IPC. I now ask the IPC's Delegates to unite, and work together as a team to help enact this 4-year Mission Plan.

During the Spring of 2000, I drafted a detailed outline of the IPC Mission Plan. Some elements of this Plan are already well developed, and other elements only exist as theoretical concepts and ideas. Most of the Mission Plan's designated elements do not fall wholly within the parameters of existing IPC Committees and Working Groups. Because of these crossovers, we have formed a Task Force among the members of the current IPC Extended Bureau to move this Plan forward.

Ten of the IPC's current leaders have volunteered to serve on this Task Force, to coordinate the development and implementation of the Mission Plan. In May of this year, several members of the Task Force met at the FAI Headquarters in Lausanne, where they reviewed and further developed the Mission Plan. All Task Force members have now approved the general concept, goals, and proposed implementation of the Mission Plan.

The Task Force will conduct its work via 12 Mission Teams, which have been established to research, develop and implement 12 primary elements of the Mission Plan. In order to encourage IPC Delegate participation in the further development and implementation of the Mission Plan, the work of the Task Force and its Mission Teams will be conducted via the FAI / IPC web site. All IPC Delegates are encouraged to visit the main IPC Mission Plan page at: http://www.fai.org/parachuting/missionplan/.

As of now, the following information is available on the site: The IPC Mission Plan (Basic Outline and Detailed Outline), notes to clarify these outlines, names and contact information for all members of the Task Force, and a chart listing the 12 Mission Teams and Team Leaders, along with the designated objectives targeted by each Mission Team.

Soon, an additional 12 pages will be linked to this main site - one for each of the 12 Mission Teams. IPC Delegates, athletes, technical experts, and other IPC supporters will have the opportunity to work as members of these Mission Teams directly, and/or be able to provide responses to the proposals which are presented for consideration, via the Mission Team web pages.

The implementation of the IPC Mission Plan will be a living, breathing project, which will require a great deal of work between IPC Plenary meetings. While the majority of the Mission Plan work will be via the internet, the Task Force hopes to meet face-to-face a few times per year, to improve its effectiveness. As each element of the Mission Plan is implemented, or modified, it will be so indicated via changes to the color of the text in the Mission Plan (Detailed Outline).

This is a very ambitious project. Maybe too ambitious. It will not solve all the IPC's problems, nor will it bring immediate publicity and riches to our sport. But right now, the IPC needs to set its sights on the future, and work toward these goals. The greatest mistake we could make, would be not trying to make a better future for the athletes who we represent.

We must move forward boldly, but carefully... with no disillusionment. Our sport has certain limitations, but also several great assets. We must accept our limitations and try to minimize them. We must identify our strongest points and take full advantage of them. Our first step must be to sell our sport to the skydiving community. If we cannot do this, we cannot expect to sell it to the public.

Hopefully, in a few years time, the IPC will have developed its sporting disciplines into events which are attractive to the athletes, to the event organizers, to the public, to the media, and to sponsors - thereby increasing participation at IPC events, increasing public viewing of IPC events, and increasing income within the sport.

Let's work together to open skydiving to the world in the 21st Century!

BJ Worth - IPC President
4 July 2000